Iron ore miners have been on a drive to lower their iron ore production costs to close to $10-$15 a tonne to keep ahead of the deterioration in pricing.

Iron ore stood at $53.20 per tonne on Friday, just above the $50 average over 2016 and 2017, according to a median forecast of 17 analysts polled by Reuters late last month.

In its copper division, Rio Tinto said it expects its share of mined production in 2015 to reach only about 510,000 tonnes, down from earlier guidance of up to 535,000 tonnes and refined copper production to be around 215,000 tonnes down from earlier guidance of up to 220,000 tonnes.